As PHP 5.5 is getting ready to be released in the next months, the end of line for PHP 5.3 is being planned, while the original MySQL extension is being deprecated in PHP 5.5 to be killed in a later version.

Whether this is a good or a bad thing for PHP developers, was one of the main topics of debate between Manuel Lemos and Ernani Joppert in the episode 31 of the Lately in PHP podcast.

They also discussed new PHP 5.5 features such as class variable type hinting and accessor functions, the apparent lack of interest of core developers to participate in the PHP FIG standards group, and what PHP developers have been searching for in 2012 by looking at the PHP Zeitgeist initiative.

Listen to the podcast now, or watch the podcast video, or read the audio transcript to learn more about these and other interesting PHP discussions.